[TheForge] Membership loss

[Bruce]

I agree that having a newsletter is very important.  But it was, for way
too long, a one-man job:  Writing, editing, setting it in print, getting it
printed, folding, stuffing envelopes, printing labels and mailing.  Just
printing the labels was a quarterly battle as it never worked the first
attempt.  Nobody else contributed -- I was supposed to manufacture it from
thin air.  Eventually I put my foot down and did get some help subsequent
to the printing.  But then the expense started catching up with us so we
abandoned the print version in favor of pdf.  I finally announced I was
quitting as editor.  Another person picked it up but has been having more
trouble finding time for it than I did.  I don't have a fix for this.

Calling lapsing members is a great idea.  But I refuse to volunteer to do
it on top of my other commitments to the group (treasurer and membership).
Our major problems is lack of participation.  I would love to find a way
around it, but we don't have money to throw at the problem.  (Our bank
recently changed policies and started charging us $15/month, and I couldn't
even get anyone else to look for a new bank.)

My enthusiasm is gone.  I almost never even get out to my own shop these
days.

Bruce
NJ


On Wed, Apr 17, 2024 at 9:24 AM Bob Ehrenberger <ehrenbergerforge at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Bruce, when I was editor for BAM, I would get a list of members who failed
> to renew from our treasurer and would call them. The main reason I heard
> from the members was that they were just overcommited and they needed to
> drop something.  The second reason was we needed to improve our educational
> efforts, a lot of them had joined thinking that they would learn
> blacksmithing but there weren't any classes in their area of the state.
>
> Our best recruiting effort was demonstrating at the state fair every
> summer. When I was doing a lot of demonstrations I would have sample
> newsletters to give to anyone that showed serious interest.
> Having a newsletter is pretty important.
>
>
>
> --
> Bob Ehrenberger
> Shelbyville, Mo
> 573-231-9324
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